I'm finding that taking a small loss on some things to go forward on others is a good thing, that is how 2019 is starting out. Sun is out and it isn't all that cold. Bob
JW Rod Garage will deliver their products (including their Deuce rails) to the swap meets/car shows they vend at throughout the year! If you live near one, you are in luck.
Youse 'Boys Out East' are having a nice time, I'd say...'Sunny California' is in our 2nd day of 5 days raining! Shop roof has a couple of leaks, but I'm catchin' 'em! Thanks, Folgers...Handy plastic cans there... I ordered my last pair of '32 rails from Carl Fjastad also. (nice family, all of 'em) My 'Mate' (pal from 'Down Unda', Rob Cranfield) was getting cars and things ready for another container. He called me from Los Angeles, said he was headed North with his car trailer...did I need anything picked up? Rob stopped by Roy's Deuce outfit, picked up my rails, and Carl let him rummage thru the 'junk pile'! "Pure Gold!" were Rob's words. Everybody all together, working. Like it like that... Anybody remember 'Fairlane Co.' for '32 rails? Out of Detroit, IIRC. Squeak Bell ordered a hundred pair when ASC got behind. Then, halfway thru the order, the Fairlane rails 'slipped', and were 'stamped where not clamped', or...'diagonally askew'! Some had the top rail at front measuring 1/2" wide at the top @ front cross member, the bottom flange 3-1/2" wide. The salesman called them 'seconds'! There was a new buyer for the Fairlane Co., but I never heard any more. Would LOVE to know what happened to future '32 rails from that big press. Anyone know how many companies are actually mfg. rails at present?
That’s a good price for shipping Without an account common carriers generally are not cheap. I’ve shipped by Greyhound at 1/3 the price of common carriers
I just got a rate quote for shipping a model A perimeter with brackets and a Winters QC in their (Winters) shipping box for 420.00 from Nebraska to Alabama. Both cl*** 85. I'm trying a new Nebraska based carrier as the old one (NTC) I'd used for years got bought out by a company out of Canada and the lady I got on the phone said they were not interested in dealing with a small company like mine?
Whoa! There's a business model. Doesn't sound very "Canadian" does it? I once had a feed company, Cargill, tell me my purchases where to small to bother with. I, personally, feel that if you want to give my company money, I am going to find a way to make that happen.
In the 22 and a half years driving over the road for a fairly large ( 2800 over the road drivers and probably 3 times that local delivery drivers ) union freight company and handling just about any type of freight that could be gotten on a trailer, I came to the conclusion that I would never willingly have anything shipped by a freight carrier. Most of the drivers I knew were pretty conscientious but there were a large number who just didn't care about how things were loaded. I have seen 3000# crates loaded on top of pallets of fluorescent light bulbs, 6 foot diameter cable reels weighing several hundred pounds rolled into a trailer with nothing to stop them from rolling around in transit but the stuff around them which usually wouldn't keep them still. The full time employees were pretty careful but the dock casuals, who might work for two or more carriers on an as needed basis, didn't care how the stuff was loaded. They were just there to make a buck. I was witness to a 5000# forklift being transported by the company I worked for crashing through the back door of a trailer going down the road. Fortunately, no one was injured but the road driver caught hell for it, even though all he had done was pick up a trailer sealed by a company supervisor before he picked it up. I know for a fact that the majority of the freight companies operate on the theory that a certain amount of damage is just the cost of doing business. Yellow, or YRC as they are known now, will not move a trailer until it is full. It can sit at a terminal for several days before it moves. They are an investor owned company and really aren't interested in service. It is the same for any other investor owned business. Some of the smaller LTL, ( less than a trailer ) regional carriers are family owned and they do a fairly good job but they are sometimes subject to a shortage of help and they hire dock casuals also. If the casuals screw up in front of a supervisor, they're usually fired but if they don't get caught and damage something, that load is a long way down the road before anyone finds out. The customer may get reimbursed eventually but, in the meantime, he has to figure out how to get what he needs another way. I could rant on about this but I think I've said enough.
All of what you said is true. What you didn't say is your freight is handled once when it is picked up, taken off the pickup trailer at a terminal and loaded on another trailer going in the general direction of the final destination. Your freight may get transferred at other terminals before it ever arrives where it is supposed to be going. I remember one shipment I picked up at my companies Charlotte, NC terminal going to Knoxville, TN. I brought it to my home terminal in Chattanooga, TN and it was put on a Knoxville trailer and it was finally delivered there. Problem with this shipment was it had originated in Minneapolis, MN, gone to Rockford, IL, transferred to a trailer bound for Indianapolis, IN, then to another going to Cincinnati, OH, another to Greensboro, NC, on to Raleigh, NC and transferred to another going to Charlotte. It is a two day trip from Minneapolis to Knoxville and only took the freight 8 days to get there. It was damaged when it finally arrived.
The Jalopy Journal
